BioShock Infinite

It’s halfway over and 2013 is already proving to be one of the best years in gaming ever. To prove that point, I put together a top 10 list for the first six months of the year. Here’s the first half and below is my top 5.

The group of games compares favorable to what came out in 2012, and it’d give any year a run for its money aside from maybe 2004, when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft launched. It’ll be interesting to see how history looks at this year and this set of titles.

Although they may not appear similar on the surface, BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us have a common premise. They put players in the role of men hired to escort their female clients to some far-off destination. In the case of Booker DeWitt, BioShock Infinite’s protagonist has to ferry Elizabeth away from Columbia and bring her to New York. With Joel from The Last of Us, he’s hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie away from a militarized quarantine zone amid a world destroyed by a zombifying pandemic.

The developers’ goal for both titles is to get players to genuinely care for their charges, and although BioShock Infinite was a great game, it fell short of that target. You liked Elizabeth but it was hard to bond with her. (The game is much better at creating a provoctive world anyway.) On the other hand, I had the chance to preview two levels last night in The Last of Us, and even without context, Naughty Dog appears to be more successful at building ties among the two characters and the player.

Part of that is the game’s striking visuals and the other is in the writing and voice acting. It’s immediately apparent in the first level set in Lincoln. Joel and Ellie are looking for one of his old friends named Bob. This stage showed off the basics of this post-pandemic world.

“Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. This is your last chance.” This the command and the threat that drives the beginning of BioShock Infinite and I was obliged to play. It was part of a three-hour preview event. I was locked alone with the upcoming game in a room that had a PC running so hot that it made the place toasty. In the middle of a frigid February, I didn’t mind it at all.

Below are three thoughts I have on themes, gameplay and level design after the playthrough. BioShock Infinite starts in an eerily similar fashion to the original. The protagonist, Booker DeWitt, is off the Maine coast in 1912 and he’s being rowed to a lighthouse by characters simply known as the Gentleman and the Lady. (Their banter and presence reminds me of R2D2 and C3PO or Tahei and Matakishi from The Hidden Fortress.) It’s more civilized than the raw urgency of a plane crash and fiery wreck in the original, but the deeper DeWitt goes, the more formal facade is peeled away and his mission doesn’t seem so clear cut.

As we get closer to its Feb. 26, 2013, launch date, more details are being released about BioShock Infinite. The most recent bit of news is the reveal of the box art. I posted the PlayStation 3 art on top because it’s the most interesting. As we revealed at a previous E3, the game does still support PlayStation Move controls and as a benefit, players get the originalBioShock for free.

Overall, I like the look of it. It reminds me a lot of Uncharted with the way Booker DeWitt, I assume that’s him, holds a gun with his right hand the flames leaping out in front. It’s funny but I never imagined him looking like that. I figured he’d be a guy with a mustache and bowler hat. He looks more like a dressed up cowboy. On the top left corner, you can see a zeppelin, which hints at Columbia. It’s a striking, colorful cover. I dig it. What do you guys think?

(This is a different preview. There was no hands-on time with BioShock Infinite, so here are some screenshots from that demo with me filling in the blanks.)

This is Elizabeth. She’s pretty right? With light-blue eyes, a short bob cut and a guileless demeanor, she has a personality that’s best described disarmingly charming. Sadly, the 20-year-old woman has been locked in the central tower of floating city called Columbia for the past 15 years. Her only companion is a creature/being/thing named Songbird. Unlike Elizabeth, the creature isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The thing is a hulking machine-beast that soars through the air and tosses people around as though they were playthings.

This picture in is taken in the Emporium. It’s a refuge of sorts, a place where Booker DeWitt (That’s going to be you.) can take a break from being chased by madmen, revolutionaries and, of course, Songbird. While they take shelter, DeWitt sees just how childish and naive a 20-year-old woman can be. Obviously, she doesn’t get out much. She thinks a bronze bust is made of gold. She enjoys playing with knickknacks and trinkets in the store. Meanwhile, Dewitt picks up a bottle of Bucking Bronco liquor.

Sorry, this post is coming so late, but I’ve been driving back up from Southern California. The last day at the show went well, and I saw some of my favorite games at the expo. On the top of my list is BioShock Infinite. After watching this dazzling demo in the floating city of Columbia, I’m sold on it, especially when there are shades of Fringe in the story. The two other titles that impressed me came from EA.

Mass Effect 3 is shaping up to be a fitting end to the trilogy. The basic plot goes like this: The Reapers attack Earth. Commander Shepard escapes. He now has to rally all the different alien races to his cause to stop the Reapers and take back earth. Can he do it? It sure looks like he has the firepower to. The second game that everyone should be on the look out for is Kingdoms of Alamur: Reckoning. It’s the new project headed by baseball legend Curt Schilling. The only way I can describe it is a third-person Elder Scrolls: Obliviion with a combat system that reminds me of Tomonobu Itagaki’s Ninja Gaiden.

And with that, here are the rest of the pictures from the show and be sure to check back with the blog for a ton of previews coming down the pipe.

And the BioShock Infinite hype machine gets rolling today with the release of a video of a demo. It’ll be up exclusively on Xbox Live for 24 hours today, then it’ll be up on the game’s web site Sept. 22. Keep in mind that this is a video of the demo, not the demo itself, so those thinking that you can see what it plays like will have to wait a while. In the meantime, you can check out these fancy screenshots.